Wednesday, January 09, 2013

January Madness: Guide to the Parties

Have you entered the January Madness pool yet? Onceagain,
here is a guide to the 34 parties running in the election, with links
to their websites if we can find them (English if available, otherwise
Hebrew if available, otherwise Arabic if available). In addition, here
are the lists of candidates running on each party list, in Hebrew (complete), English (incomplete), and Arabic (incomplete).

Parties represented in the current Knesset:

Am Shalem:
The name of the party (“Whole Nation”) is a play on the name of the
founder, MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem, who was elected as an MK from Shas, but
broke with party orthodoxy (as it were) on issues such as conversion and
whether haredi men should work for a living, and started his own
faction. Am Shalem “seeks to unite all Jews and restore moderate
Judaism to Israel”, and to integrate haredim into the workforce and the
army.

Habayit Hayehudi:
After an aborted attempt in the last election, the far-right National
Union and the former Mafdal (National Religious Party) have succeeded
this time around in forming a combined party. At the top of the joint
list is newcomer Naftali Bennett: high-tech millionaire, son of American
immigrants, and former head of the settler movement. Bennett’s
positions have attracted controversy, including saying he would refuse
military orders to evacuate settlements, and proposing the annexation of
Area C (the parts of the West Bank where the settlements are located).

Hadash – Democratic Front for Peace and Equality:
This left-wing Arab-Jewish party, which includes the Israeli Communist
Party, is led once again by MK Mohammed Barakeh. Hadash has supported a
two-state solution since before it was popular.

Hatenua:
After former Kadima head and opposition leader Tzipi Livni lost the
Kadima leadership election to Shaul Mofaz, she resigned from the
Knesset. Now she’s back with a new centrist party, “The Movement”, and
has recruited 7 of her former Kadima colleagues in the Knesset. As
Kadima’s 2009 candidate for prime minister, Livni has put together an
impressive list of fellow also-rans: in the #2 spot is 2003 Labor
candidate Amram Mitzna, and in #3 is 2006 Labor candidate Amir Peretz.
Hatenua has also joined forces with the Green Movement (whose leader,
Alon Tal, is #13 on the list), which ran a joint list with Meimad in
2009 (but Meimad is not running in this year’s election).

Israel Labor Party:
In the 2009 election, Labor (the center-left party going back to the
beginning of the state) hit a historic low, winning only 13 seats. And
then it got even smaller: Party leader (and Defense Minister) MK Ehud
Barak wanted to stay part of the Netanyahu government, and the majority
of the party didn’t, so Barak and 4 other MKs formed a breakaway party,
Atzma’ut (Independence), reducing the Labor faction to 8. (Barak has
announced his retirement from politics, and Atzma’ut is not running in
this election.) Labor is now trying to rebound, with new leadership (MK
Shelly Yachimovich) and a focus on domestic issues. Labor’s candidate
list includes some notable new faces: At #8 is Stav Shaffir, organizer of the tent protests, and at #27 is Rabbi Gilad Kariv, head of the Israeli Reform movement.

Kadima:
This centrist party, led at the time by Tzipi Livni, actually won the
largest number of seats (28) in the 2009 election, but was unable to
pull together 60 seats to form a coalition, so Netanyahu got to form the
coalition and become prime minister instead, and Kadima has been
leading the opposition. Kadima is now led by MK Shaul Mofaz, and has
been splintered, with some of its members leaving for Hatenua and
elsewhere.

Likud Yisrael Beiteinu:
The Likud, led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu,
and its lead coalition partner Yisrael Beiteinu, led by MK Avigdor
Lieberman, have combined to form a right-wing superparty. Lieberman
recently resigned as Foreign Minister after being indicted for fraud and
breach of trust, but he remains at #2 on the party list for the
election. The superparty hopes to remain in power for the next Knesset,
and Netanyahu hopes to be reelected for a third term as Prime Minister,
unprecedented since Ben-Gurion.

Meretz – Israel’s Left:
The leftmost majority-Jewish party in the Knesset, Meretz has been
shrinking in recent elections. In this election, Meretz will be led for
the first time by MK Zahava Gal-On, who has been active in working
against human trafficking. A number of distinguished Israelis are in
symbolic positions on the Meretz list, such as writer A.B. Yehoshua in
the 109th spot.

National Democratic Assembly (Balad): One of the
two major Arab parties. Once again it is led by MK Jamal Zahalka, who
took over after party founder Azmi Bishara fled the country. But the
candidate who has been attracting more attention is #2 candidate MK
Hanin Zoabi (the first woman elected to Knesset from an Arab party), who
participated in the 2010 Gaza flotilla and was banned by the Central
Elections Committee from running in the election, but was reinstated by
the Supreme Court.

Otzma Leyisrael:
Not everyone in the National Union went along with the Habayit
Hayehudi merger. Two MKs stayed behind and started their own (also
far-right) faction: the secular Jabotinskyite MK Arieh Eldad and the
Kahanist MK Michael Ben-Ari. Also on the list, at #3, is Baruch Marzel,
former leader of the banned Kach party.

ShasM:
This Sephardi haredi party often wins enough seats to make or break
coalitions. Longtime leader MK Eli Yishai is at the top of the list once
again, but the big news this year is that former leader Aryeh Deri has
returned to politics (after serving time for bribery) and is running at
#2. (Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef is the party’s spiritual leader, but doesn’t
run in the elections.)

United Arab List (Ra’am) – Arab Movement for Renewal (Ta’al) – Arab Democratic Party (Mada):
One of the two main Arab parties, made up of multiple factions,
including the southern faction of the Islamic Movement, where party
leader MK Ibrahim Sarsur comes from. Another faction is the Arab
Democratic Party, led by MK Taleb el-Sana (running at #5). Ta’al is MK
Ahmad Tibi’s operation (Tibi is in the #2 spot), and has allied with
Balad and Hadash in the past.

United Torah Judaism: Despite haredi population
growth, the main Ashkenazi haredi party’s representation in the Knesset
has remained remarkably stable. It is led once again by MK Yaakov
Litzman, who represents the Agudat Yisrael faction and the Ger Hasidim.
At #2 is MK Moshe Gafni, representing the Degel Hatorah faction and the
B’nei B’rak yeshivish crowd.

Parties not represented in the current Knesset:

Brit Olam Legeulat Yisrael:
As far as I can tell, this party is very different from the
Jewish-Arab party that ran under the name Brit Olam in the last
election. (A number of the parties below also have the same names as
parties that ran last time, but are completely unrelated. This is
because it’s easier to register if the party’s name is already on the
books.) This year’s Brit Olam has biblical quotes on its home page, and
the slogan “Yes! to the God of Israel”. Its platform includes Israeli
sovereignty over “all the territories of Judea and Samaria”, the
expansion of settlements, expanded national health care, and higher
salaries for teachers.

Chaim Bekavod: This new party is advocating on behalf of seniors living alone and in poverty.

Da’am – Workers Party:
This far-left Arab-Jewish party “views socialism as the alternative to
the present capitalist regime, which has forfeited the trust of its
citizens” and supports the Arab Spring. The party is headed by activist
Asma Aghbarieh-Zahalka (no relation to Balad’s Jamal Zahalka as far as I
know), the first Arab woman to lead an Israeli party.

Dor Bonei Haaretz:
“The generation who built the country”. This is the new incarnation of
Gil (the Pensioners’ Party), which surprised everyone and won 7 Knesset
seats in 2006, but then faded away in 2009. They’re still advocating
for retired people.

Eretz Hadasha:
This left-wing party opposes corruption and the influence of money in
politics. Its Facebook page sports a number of pictures of young
supporters who have written the hashtag ארץחדשה# on their hands.

Green Leaf – Liberal List:
The Green Leaf (Aleh Yarok) party has been around for a while,
supporting marijuana legalization. But by rebranding themselves as the
Liberal List, they’re also emphasizing other planks of their platform
“based on the principles of free market and individual freedom”. It’s
“liberal” in the European sense – i.e. closer to what Americans would
call “libertarian”.

Hatikva Leshinui:
A new Arab party that supports full equality for Arab Israelis and
integration into Israeli society. They want to see Arab Israelis serve
as a bridge in relations between Israel and Arab states.

Hayisraelim: This party represents Russian immigrants, charging that Yisrael Beiteinu (having joined with Likud) no longer represents them.

Koach Lehashpia: A breakaway party from Shas, led
by Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak (who, like Shas’s R. Ovadiah Yosef, is not
running as a candidate), founder of the kiruv (outreach) organization Shofar.

Kulanu Haverim: It was bound to happen eventually. The Na Nach
Hasidim, known for dance parties in the streets and graffiti saying “Na
Nach Nachma Nachman Me’Uman” (Hebrew for “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare”), have formed a political party. Their
platform calls for being happy.

Light (Or): A secular party calling for separation of religion and state.

Moreshet Avot:
Led by Ilan Meshicha Yar-Zanbar, this party says it wants to bring all
the parties together to solve economic problems. Their #3 candidate is
named Moshe Moses.

Netzach: A “Lithuanian” haredi party founded by followers of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach of Jerusalem. It’s a breakaway from Degel Hatorah (the non-Hasidic faction within United Torah Judaism).

One Future – Fighting the New Drug:
The “new drug” is Internet pornography. They want to pass legislation
requiring Internet providers to filter porn, except to users who opt out
of the filter.

The Economics Party:
This party was founded by American-born brothers Danny and Benny
Goldstein, and is led by Russian-born Kadima MK Yulia
Shamalov-Berkovich. They support a free-market economy, and Danny
Goldstein calls it “the first party in Israeli politics that has
American ideals and American ways”.

The Green and Young for a Green Future in Israel:
This is the latest branding for the Green Party (Hayerukim), which has
been around for a while (not to be confused with the Green Movement,
which is running on a joint list with Hatenuah). Like other Green
parties around the world, it is an environmental party. Longtime party
leader Peer Visner was convicted of forgery and fraud, so the party is
now led by Amir Meltzer.

The Pirates:
ARRRR! Yes, this is a real party. It’s not the type of pirates you’re
thinking of, though their logo is a skull with an eyepatch. It’s
pirates in the sense of software piracy, and they’re part of an
international movement of Pirate Parties
that has actually gotten candidates elected to the European Parliament
and the Czech Senate. They want to lift restrictions on intellectual
property, and provide free Internet access as a basic right.

Tzedek Hevrati:
Despite using the same name (“Social Justice”), this is not the party
founded by Russian-Israeli-Angolan billionaire Arkadi Gaydamak. It is a
group of social justice activists, led by Gad Haran, who want to
continue the work of the tent protests. Their platform emphasizes
affordable housing, health care, and raising the minimum wage.

We Are Brothers:
This party was founded by Ethiopian and Indian immigrants, and opposes
racial discrimination. Their platform includes economic measures to
fight poverty.

Yesh Atid:
By far the most prominent of the parties running in the election that
are not currently represented in the Knesset. This new centrist party
was founded by former TV anchor Yair Lapid, and has put together an
eclectic list of candidates including mayors and rabbis. Their emphasis
is on domestic issues.